The DETR will this month name a panel of regeneration specialists to advise on implementing the urban white paper.
The DETR will also publish an action plan for the proposals contained in last November's paper.

The move is the next stage in the government's five-year timetable for an urban renaissance in the UK.

The appointments to the panel, called the Urban Sounding Board, will be a mix of academics, urban regeneration professionals and representatives from community organisations and from private and business interests.

A DETR spokesperson would not be drawn on who had been approached or how many members the Urban Sounding Board would have.

The action plan is likely to provide details on proposals such as the establishment of regional centres of excellence, a programme to improve parks and public spaces and a relaunch of the millennium communities competition.

It may also consider other white paper measures, such as the creation of further urban regeneration companies and of a cabinet committee on urban affairs.

In a separate development, industry body the Urban Design Group is to draw up guidance on how developers, partnerships and local authorities should produce masterplans and urban design frameworks. The group will press the government to reflect the guidance in its proposed Planning Policy Guidance Note 1 on urban regeneration.